


Hard Science

by skytramp



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Academia, M/M, The bickering professor romcom you never knew you wanted.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 18:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3738583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/skytramp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hanamiya had almost punched Yamazaki when he said something about him being <i>lucky</i> to be sharing an office with Kiyoshi Teppei.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard Science

Hanamiya had almost punched Yamazaki when he said something about him being _lucky_ to be sharing an office with Kiyoshi Teppei. It didn’t matter that it was true, because they were assigned to share they had the largest and most conveniently located office, didn’t matter that due to both of them being well organized that the office was almost always spotless, and it _certainly_ didn’t matter that Kiyoshi Teppei had hands that could wrap more than half way around his waist if they tried.

“He’s insufferable. He won’t stop smiling like he knows something that I don’t. And there’s no fucking way that an _Anthropologist_ knows anything that I don’t.” Hanamiya had spat at Yamazaki. What the hell was Anthropology anyway? Soft bullshit science. If nothing could be hypothesized, tested or proven what was the point? Hanamiya knew that Molecular Biology was vastly superior, if only he could pound it into that thick skull of Kiyoshi’s. 

Well, there was no avoiding the office now. He was already late for his assigned office hours and the sight of one of his students chatting with Kiyoshi in the doorway only worsened his mood. 

“Oh, Professor Hanamiya!” Kiyoshi greeted him with the most _pleasant_ sounding voice, Hanamiya tried not to visibly scowl. 

“Kitagawa, are you here for office hours?” Hanamiya addressed his student, who was shuffling aimlessly. She seemed to have trouble looking away from Kiyoshi long enough to reply. 

“Oh! Yes, I wanted to discuss…” She trailed off as she pulled her bag from her shoulder and started digging through it. Hanamiya used the time to enter the office, shoving past Kiyoshi to do so. 

He pulled the guest chair away from the wall and positioned it in front of his desk before sitting behind it. 

“After you.” He heard Kiyoshi say as he stepped away from the door and gestured for Kitagawa to enter. 

Kitagawa came in and sat down, she had a paper in her hand, finally and when she set it on his desk Hanamiya grabbed it. Kiyoshi shut the door and crossed the room to sit behind his own desk. 

“Do you really have to be here right now?” Hanamiya said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t interrupt, and Kitagawa-san gave her permission.” Kiyoshi smiled at him, again.

Hanamiya didn’t respond, just looked back down at the paper. If Kiyoshi was determined to annoy him with his presence, he wouldn’t let the man know that it bothered him. It didn’t bother him. Kiyoshi’s presence did absolutely nothing for him, it was neutral. 

Kitagawa sat with her hands in her lap, looking focused and nervous as Hanamiya re-read her paper. He vaguely remembered grading it the first time. He glanced at the grade and agreed with himself. This paper was barely worth the passing grade it got. He wondered what she expected to get out of this meeting.

He could feel Kiyoshi’s eyes on him from across the room. Before he could stop himself he glanced up and their eyes met. Kiyoshi didn’t even have the damned courtesy to look away. 

______________

“Are you on your way out?” Kiyoshi’s question was innocent, but Hanamiya prickled at it just the same.

“Does it look like I am?” He asked, as he hefted his bag over his shoulder and held his keys in his fist. 

Kiyoshi just laughed. “Fair enough.” 

The room was mostly dark, the overhead lights having long been turned off in favor of each professor’s desk lamp. Kiyoshi clicked his off and picked up his bag. Somehow in the near darkness he didn’t seem like such an overpowering presence. Hanamiya almost felt comfortable, a rare sensation at any time when he was on campus. 

He waited for Kiyoshi to exit first and then clicked off his own lamp. The room was fully dark now, without any windows, and before Hanamiya realized it he had stumbled into a large warm _thing_ that must have been Kiyoshi himself. 

"What the hell are you--?" His voice was stopped by a calloused hand across his mouth. 

"Just... Be quiet for a moment, please." It was Kiyoshi's voice, barely above a whisper in his ear. The hand didn't move and Hanamiya was just about to shove the man away when he felt the breath on the side of his neck. 

His hands were still locked at his sides when the lips touched his neck. He felt Kiyoshi's warm tongue lapping at his skin and he shivered and gasped into Kiyoshi's hand before he could control it. 

The kiss, if that's what it was, must have only lasted a few seconds when Kiyoshi stood up straight and pulled his hand back. Hanamiya was too stunned to speak. 

"Thanks for that." Kiyoshi said, his voice full of casual humor, and he turned and left the room before Hanamiya could move. 

_______

Option one: Kiyoshi just did it to fuck with him. Completely plausible, he just wanted to get a rise and it wouldn't happen again. 

Option two: it was some strange _anthropologist_ thing. Some study of human nature or whatever faux-science bullshit that idiot teaches. Also plausible, though less likely, Hanamiya thought, due to the fact that the lights were out. What sort of experiment takes place in the dark unless it's studying bioluminescence in fungi? 

And finally, option three: Kiyoshi was in some way _romantically interested_ in him. Option three was a long shot, he had to admit. They'd shared an office for the better part of the school year and he hadn't so much as asked Hanamiya out for coffee. Not that he would have said yes, but you'd think coffee would be before sudden inexplicable kisses on the neck. 

Hanamiya shook his head for the twentieth time that night as he lay in bed. Option three wasn't something he was going to think about. It was option one most assuredly, that asshole was just trying to make him react, and Hanamiya would be damned if he was going to give him what he wanted. 

He woke up sweating and wrapped up in his sheets. He absolutely hadn't had a dream about Kiyoshi. The man in his dream was just a placeholder. He had been taller than Hanamiya himself, sure, with broad shoulders and large hands, but it wasn't Kiyoshi. Even if the dream man _had_ kissed his neck and it felt familiar and warm. 

When Hanamiya stumbled into the office, just 10 minutes before the start of his first class, it was with an emerald green scarf wrapped around his neck. Kiyoshi was sitting at his desk, nose buried in a stack of exams, and Hanamiya hardly spared him a glance before dropping his bag and running to his classroom. 

The fifty minute lecture on the transformation of E.coli with plasmids based on the 1982 study by Hanahan, a topic that would bore even the most avid undergraduate, had passed with disturbing quickness. Before he knew it, it was office hours and Hanamiya found himself seated behind his desk, trying desperately not to tug at the scarf around his throat. 

Kiyoshi sat at his own desk, still grading exams most likely, and he hadn't even looked up when Hanamiya entered. Office hours seemed to be a no man's land today, they were only a quarter of the way through term, the time when midterms were too far away to worry about and all initial questions had already been answered. 

Hanamiya had his own grading he could do, but he felt unfocused, on edge, and he pulled a novel from his bag instead. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs and began reading. Almost instantly he felt Kiyoshi looking at him. He refused to look up. 

More than thirty seconds of reading the same line of dialogue and Hanamiya was certain Kiyoshi was still looking. 

"Hana--" Kiyoshi began, when a knock sounded at the door, followed by a hesitant student, one of Kiyoshi's this time, letting themself inside. 

Kiyoshi didn't try to speak to him for the rest of the day. Hanamiya was grateful, of course, he didn't want to speak to Kiyoshi anyway, and clearly it was a groan of exasperation that greeted Kiyoshi when he jogged up to Hanamiya as he crossed campus towards his car. 

"Hey, Hanamiya!" He called, despite the fact that Hanamiya had already stopped walking and turned towards him. 

"What?" He replied, when Kiyoshi had caught up and stood across the sidewalk from him. 

"Where are you going? You usually stay late on Thursdays." 

Hanamiya stared blankly. It was true, he normally caught up on a few classes worth of homework on Thursday nights. He couldn't tell Kiyoshi, of course, that he'd rather grade homework in a pit of vipers than in their office at this moment. 

"Why do you care?" He figured that his caustic tone was the safe course of action. They were in public after all, what could Kiyoshi really do? He absolutely didn't want to find out. 

"Er, I don't, really." Kiyoshi looked positively flustered. Hanamiya smiled. 

"Then why the fuck did you run across campus to catch me then, idiot?" He asked with a sneer, hoping to exacerbate the man's embarrassment. 

"I don't like your scarf." He replied. _What?_

"Luckily I don't dress to suit your tastes, Professor." Hanamiya replied, resisting the urge to readjust the scarf that felt too tight around his throat. He turned to continue walking and Kiyoshi caught his arm. 

"What the hell are you doing?" He spat, yanking his arm from the grip. 

"I mean to say, I like your scarf, but I like your neck more." The sun was setting and shadows fell thick around them but certainly that wasn't a blush on his cheeks, it couldn't be. 

"Why would I care what you like?" He asked, while silently resigning himself to wearing the scarf the rest of term, despite the heat that would soon be rolling in in waves. 

Kiyoshi ignored his question and stepped closer. He hadn't tried to touch him since Hanamiya pulled his arm away but they were less than a foot apart now. 

"Can I kiss you?"

"What?"

Kiyoshi was leaning in, hovering over Hanamiya but he didn't reach out. He was supposed to say no, he was supposed to yell maybe, shove him, punch him, even, for such a ludicrous suggestion. Instead he stood still while Kiyoshi repeated the question. 

"Can I kiss you?" His lips were mere inches away and his eyes were downcast. 

"I don't know, can you?" Hanamiya taunted, and closed the gap. 

Kiyoshi's lips were soft, yielding to him as he pressed theirs together and he felt Kiyoshi's hands at his scarf until it fell loose over his shoulders. His own hands rested on Kiyoshi's hips, gripping firmly to hold them both in place. 

Kiyoshi came to his senses before Hanamiya did, and pulled them apart. 

"This isn't the best place for this." He said with a smile, and for the first time Hanamiya noticed the students milling around them, hustling between classes. His face flushed with embarrassment. 

"Do you have a suggestion?" Hanamiya was surprised at his own voice, it sounded timid. 

"Yes. My place." Kiyoshi smiled again and grabbed his hand. Hanamiya followed. It seemed option three wasn't so implausible after all.


End file.
